10 Steps from my Goal
by Periphrastic Marshmallow
Summary: In which Itachi clutches at hope and Orochimaru loses sight of his aim. 10 little fic-lets written to various tunes. ItaOro.


_So, I found this meme lurking around dA or something similar and thought - oh hey, it looks like fun __and it will only take the length of 10 songs~! For those who have not seen nor heard of it, the objective is to put your itunes/ipod/mp3 player/personal slave band on shuffle and, without skipping any, write 10 little song inspired pieces. Your writing must occur with __one playthrough of each song, with no preplanning or editing afterwards. That made me eep a little._

_Thankfully, I wordspam like an irritating child, so somehow, I managed to produce a fair bit from not very much time. The quality of the writing is probably awful, and the pieces probably don't make any sense, but I enjoyed it and it's an excuse for you to read some ItaOro, so enjoy~! 3_

**Boys & Girls – LM.C**

The door banged open, leaving a sudden jolt hanging in the air.

Itachi glanced up from his scroll to find Orochimaru standing in the doorway, eyes gleaming enthusiastically – probably not a good sign, he noted mentally. In order to ascertain just how much danger he was in, he gave the other man a curious look.

"Ahhh, but wouldn't you like to know?" The snake ninja practically sung, floating over to where the Uchiha prodigy sat., leaning over behind in 'til Itachi could feel the other man's hair tickling his face.

"I would. I'm concerned."

"One always should be, considering my nature. Though, I digress. I was thinking, you see."

"Even more concerning."

Orochimaru gave a little laugh and leaned down further, allowing Itachi to tilt his head back before he did so. "I was thinking most deeply – we all have that little thing to believe in, no?"

There was an expected silence, during which Orochimaru looked pleased with himself.

"That's it?"

"Absolutely."

"You-" Itachi was about to be sarcastic there, but he found his lips claimed before he could continue.

The other man gave another laugh and a smile which, for the first time in a while, reached his eyes. "And with that little thing we can become stronger."

**Shakka Beach ~Laka Laka La~ - UVERworld**

The Uchiha could only stand in bewilderment as his partner and the others from Akatsuki filed in front of him. A beach. They were on a high profile mission at a _beach_. He could practically feel Kisame's excitement, although, the fact he was humming a little tune was helping.

"Think of it, guys! All of the women!"

Orochimaru raised his eyebrows, turning to Kisame. "As if you could ensnare any with your blue skin and serrated teeth."

"Oh, and you could, snakeface!? They'd think you were another woman!" The blue skinned man snapped back in anger. He got no answer, save for Sasori telling him to shut up as he was 'defiling his sense of oceanic beauty'.

Instead, Orochimaru dropped back a few paces to walk besides Itachi, and with a mischievous grin whispered: "I could probably have any woman I wanted here, no?"

For some reason, Itachi felt the irrepressible urge to stuff the man in a bag and lock him in a cupboard out of womanly sight. It was probably true, and—

Before his jealousy rose to too great a height, Orochimaru finished what he was saying. "But, do not worry yourself, Itachi-kun. I doubt there is a woman here half as pleasurable as you."

"…Naturally. I am, after all, an Uchiha." Itachi finally muttered with a very poor attempt to disguise his deep relief.

**Fukai Mori – Do as Infinity**

A light wind blew, ruffling Itachi's cloak. He cast his eyes down to a small bloodstain upon the steps on which he stood motionless.

He would not look up. He could not. If he did, he would see the man he adored walking away, not looking back, not regretting. He would see the final remnants of what made him smile in the world leave his life, and Itachi could not afford his eyes the pain of such a sight again.

He did not know how long he stood there, holding the kunai which he used to sever Orochimaru's hand, gripping on to it until it reached a point of physical pain. It could have very well been a few hours until he slowly turned away from his standing spot.

Before returning to inform the rest of the news of Orochimaru's betrayal, he allowed himself to sink to his knees, his free hand forming a fist on the ground.

If he was capable of weeping he would.

This was his life – a life standing alone. All for his brother, never for him.

**Green Finch and Linnet Bird – Sweeny Todd OST**

The looks of shock on others' faces, Orochimaru thought, were always lovely. In retrospect, he supposed it might just be a tad surprising that he was such a competent musician.

However, the look on Itachi's face was certifiably the most satisfying.

"I… did not have you down for a singer." The Uchiha managed out through a tight jaw, finally managing to exhale.

Orochimaru smiled lightly in response. "If ever I were to create a ninja village, certainly, it would have something to do with music."

"…The all dancing, all singing kage of music?" Itachi drawled finally. However by that point, his lover was back to chirping away pleasantly, ever smiling.

**Shine – Mr. Big**

It was a very wrong thing, sleeping with and adoring the man whose ambition was to destroy the village you would give everything to protect.

So Itachi told himself every morning, as light filtered through the window, illuminating his lover's beautifully pale face, it casting off somewhat of an ethereal glow. He could not say it wasn't worth it though, having the man literally shine on him every morning.

Orochimaru was always smiling, Itachi thought briefly, even in his sleep. It wasn't a very nice smile… but it was _a_ smile, and it was something he would not give up. Not if that smile would continue to shine on his life.

Somewhere in his musings, the other man had awoken.

"Say, am I burning out?" Itachi asked suddenly, realizing quite how dull he must seem in comparison.

His response was a low murmur of amusement. "It is… too early to…" Yawn. "…laugh, Itachi-kun. But no, you are much too young for such a foolish thing." That smile brightened amicably, and Itachi's musings of earlier were utterly cast aside.

"…Hn. I suppose I won't if you continue to shine."

**Rose – Anna Tsuchiya**

He _needed_ Itachi to love him, Orochimaru told himself, as his younger lover whispered words of affection into his ear. It was _necessary_. No matter how it hurt to hear those confessions and know what his own intentions were… He needed Itachi for his plans – and therefore he needed his trust.

But somewhere along the line, he had put his trust and love into the boy.

It wasn't _real _love, he reassured himself, as he buried his head into Itachi's neck, barely able to breathe. It was want of the Sharingan – eyes deep red like roses. It was those which he loved.

Not the boy.

_Not _Itachi.

"I do love you, you damn old man." The boy muttered into his ear, allowing his hands to wander despite the exhaustion which gripped the both of them.

"… I do, too, boy." _I love your eyes_. That was all.

Really. Honestly.

**Crawling – Linkin Park (I lol'd. Oh, shuffle. Here's really bad writing for a really bad song :3)**

Itachi lay on his bed, staring up at the mildew ceiling. He had not moved for some while, and he suspected Kisame was beginning to worry about him.

That was totally irrelevant – he was already worried about himself. It had been years, _years_, since he had bid a violent farewell to Orochimaru, and yet he could still lie in total depression and solitude.

He could lie there, and see the smirking face of the man who he had forsaken lingering beneath the surface. At night, he could feel the other man's silky smooth skin, and hear his light breath.

…Such insecurities were most unbecoming of him, Madara had told him repeatedly, doing his best to rub salt into his wounds, and oh lord it had worked. It was… painful.

"Itachi? Dinner? You're still a little slashed up from the mission right?" Came Kisame's voice.

"… Yes."

"Tofu helps wounds heal, I hear."

The Uchiha nearly laughed. As if tofu would heal his mental scars.

**Pieces – Sum41**

The great and much feared Orochimaru was troubled.

He sat in a particularly comfortable chair, watching the spitting image of his former lover train. He saw this every day – Sasuke working himself half to death. It reminded him, regrettably, of days when he had fought alongside Uchiha Itachi in Akatsuki, extreme days. Extreme, yet enjoyabl—

He mentally cursed at himself. He was better off on his own. He would attain perfection by himself, he didn't _need _Itachi; …he merely wanted him with every fibre of his being. Perfection is worth it, he told himself as he did every day, and returned to watching Sasuke perform his exercises.

So very worth it.

…Probably.

**My Immortal – Evanescence (Oh, so **_**now **_**shuffle is going miserable on me?)**

It must be nice, Itachi thought, having feasible immortality dangling in front of your face. Nice, or perhaps painfully taunting.

With the date of his death at Sasuke's hand fast approaching, he had been considering Orochimaru's ambition – unnatural lifespan – more and more. Perhaps he should pursue it, too? Fake a death… Go on living.

He would snort the instant he thought that, though. After all, surely he had nothing to live for, save for the ethereal ghost of his immortal lover who despised his guts, probably til his last breath (for good reason - he had after all provoked and driven away Orochimaru that day). The man probably never even cared for him, Itachi thought with spite. Nevertheless, he thought it would be nice, attaining immorality, forgiveness, love and spending an eternity with the charming bastard that was the snake of the legendary sannin.

"Foolish. He's gone." He hissed to himself, startling Kisame walking at his side.

"Huh?"

"… Ah. Just… It's foolish how Orochimaru tried so hard, yet ended up dying at my brother's hand." This was true, he thought, but not foolish like the way he tried so hard to cling on to the man. His immortal. His _dead_ immortal, he thought bitterly. "A fool indeed."

**What You Waiting For? - Gwen Stefani**

"I… am a fool." Orochimaru announced aloud, sitting himself down upon the sofa with unnecessary force.

Sasori looked up and paused. "Yes, you are."

The legend ignored his red-headed partner and friend. "What _am _I waiting for?" he hissed, clenching at his mug of steaming hot coffee. He doubted he needed to elaborate, Sasori did after all, know him surprisingly well.

"You're perfectly capable, you know. Time is running out for your mortal body."

"Yes, thank you for that, Sasori." He snapped back bitterly. Why oh why could he not just flounce up to that damned Uchiha, tell him to look the other way, punch him, and then steal his body in a deceitful, villainous manner? Why did he _care _so much?

The puppeteer seemed to sense his thoughts. "You've fallen."

"Silence." Orochimaru heaved a heavy sigh, taking a long, self indulgent sip from his coffee.

He knew he wouldn't do it unless prompted. How goddamn frustrating.


End file.
